Appointed: A Canadian Senator Bringing Margins to the Centre Kim Pate and Fregine Sheehy

On this episode of Appointed Podcast (recorded earlier this summer), Senator Kim Pate sat down with Kendal David, co-chair of Basic Income Canada Youth Network to discuss Bill C-22: Canada Disability Benefit, Bill S-233: National Framework for a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income Act and the important work that the Basic Income Canada Youth Network is doing to imagine and work towards a more fair, just and equitable Canada. With an academic focus on disability justice, Kendal and Kim discussed the crucial need for more adequate and careful consultation and data collection to ensure no one gets left behind in the implementation of Bill C-22, especially those most marginalized in disability communities. Finally, the duo spoke of the possibilities a basic income guarantee could provide to ensure everyone is able to live a life with dignity and true choice.

Kendal David is a PhD student at Carleton University’s School of Social Work. She holds an MSW (Carleton University) and BSW (University of Calgary). Kendal’s current PhD research uses feminist disability studies and critical discourse analysis to examine poverty policy in Canada. More about Kendal and how to contact her is available via her Carleton webpage.

Kendal’s work with Invisible Institutions - discussed in the podcast - included creating policy briefs which examine institutional exclusions from federal disability data and institutional allowances via social assistance. Kendal’s other published research has included analyses of Ontario’s poverty reduction strategy, and her MSW thesis which explored and challenged what it means to be a social worker in Alberta. In June 2023, a peer-reviewed article based on her MSW thesis data was published in Critical Social Work, available here. More about Kendal’s published and public research is available via her ResearchGate profile.

Learn more about the Basic Income Canada Youth Network by checking out our website. You can stay up-to-date with our work by following us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok! Some of Kendal’s favorite BICYN content also lives on the network’s YouTube page.

BICYN’s most recent op-ed in The Hill Times (not mentioned in the podcast - but super relevant to the podcast!) is about the Canada Disability Benefit and why we still need a guaranteed basic income. It was written by BICYN directors Alexandra Zannis and Ellen Spannagel. (https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2023/...)

On this episode of Appointed Podcast, Senator Kim Pate sits down with Cassidy Caron, President of the Métis National Council (MNC) to discuss the importance of Bill C-53: Recognition of Certain Métis Governments in Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan and Métis Self-Government Act as well as the crucial work the MNC has been undertaking by and for Métis citizens. Senate Pate and President Caron also discuss where a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income could play a role in supporting thriving Métis communities.

In this episode, Senator Kim Pate is joined by Professor Vass Bednar, the executive director of McMaster University’s Master of Public Policy and Digital Society program.

Professor Bednar discusses the urgent need for reform of Canadian competition law, as well as the nexus between inadequate competition policy and and systemic inequality. Senator Pate and Professor Bednar further explore next steps to affect meaningful, lasting change to such complicated social, economic, and political issues.